Tuesday, August 03, 2004

 

Please explain, please explain, only humans can explain...

Be honest with me, friends. Am I deluded about the unscrupulousness of hefty play submission fees?

I've written on this issue before, and I admit I got a little hot. In that case, I thought I'd found a particularly egregious example, an extreme to chastise. Through that chastisement, I hoped to shed light on lesser infractions.

Turns out that case was neither unique nor extreme.

The Curtain Players of Galena, OH, ask twenty dollars to submit your play for their new play festival. In addition, they want a waiver of any royalties. In exchange, you the playwright receive a maximum three-weekend performance. I saw this and I nearly choked on my coffee.

But it's entirely possible that I'm deluded. I've been deluded about things in the past. Naïve. Ignorant. And I'm certain that I have values that I hold to be worthy that are not, and notions that I believe true that are false. I'm no genius, no law. I'm not The Stone Tablets, here. I'm just a simple, confused human being.

But I find the demand for $20.00 from every playwright who wishes to submit to their festival to be abhorrent. I think it's morally bankrupt for a theater company to follow this demand with a further demand that the playwright waive any right to royalties. The combination of the two is so disturbing that I feel like my head is going to split open. "In exchange for twenty dollars, we will consider not paying you for your work."

I don't mind waiving royalties at this point, because I would just like my play produced. That's a big concession. As many of you know, theatre companies won't accept previously produced plays for new play festivals, even if the previous production was in Bumscrantz, South Nowhere. Giving up the only card I posess (right of first production) is a huge compromise. But to ask for free-and-clear rights to my play and twenty dollars, with a promise of a production of uncertain value in return?

Maybe I'm missing something.

When I produced Lil' Pervs in February, I paid the writers. I couldn't imagine not paying the writers. I'm just one guy, without the resources of the Ohio Community Theatre Association or the New Albany Arts Council. It was just me. Those I could bring along for the love of theatre, and me. That's it. And I still paid them. People I didn't have to pay, I paid, because they were giving me their services in exchange.

Am I deluded about the exchange of money for services rendered?

I wanted to talk about the function of Deus Ex Machina today, not this garbage again. But I need help, because I must be deluded, because I can't imagine how good, decent Midwestern theatre people could justify this practice to themselves. I feel like I'm missing some key fact, because based on what's on the table now, this appears to me to be wrong, wrong, wrong.

They ask for three copies of the script, so this fee can't offset the Kinkos costs. The site boasts of near-capacity houses, so it can't be to compensate for a lack of interest. Is it for bolstering the production budget? Is it to purchase gin? What am I missing?

I'm writing another letter. I'm sending these people my questions. I'll be nice, because I try to be a nice guy. Treat me with respect, and I'll give you the same.

If you represent this theater company, and you've found this site by googling the name or something, please send me an email outlining your reasons for this fee. Explain why you coupled it with a demand for waiver of royalties. If you're nice, I'll be nice, even if I disagree with you.

I'll post a copy of my letter when I send it.

And if anyone out there thinks I'm deluded about this issue, please tell me how. Because I hate thinking I'm the online equivalent of the guy who thinks that tinfoil keeps the signals out.

posted by Dan 1:16 PM
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